December 25, 2021: Winter Solstice, Cold Moon

Merry Christmas!

Posting earlier than usual in order to send Christmas greetings to all! 

We have now passed the winter solstice and thus, spring is on the way!  Well, that may be a bit of optimistic thinking, but at least the days are now getting longer.  This year the solstice found me once again at the top of Red Hill in Moultonborough, one of my favorite quick hikes with a great view, though I will warn you if you head in that direction, access to the fire tower is closed for the winter.  But you can still enjoy that bright blue New Hampshire winter sky.

The Red Hill fire tower on a blue sky day.

There is no view to the north without climbing the tower, and with the sun at the lowest rise the sky - not even 23 degrees above the horizon at high noon on the solstice - there is a lot of glare looking south even on a clear day.

This was taken at noon, just an hour after the solstice.

On December 18th, three days before the solstice, the December full moon arrived; I was able to catch it just 32 hours later during a beautiful pink sunrise on December 20th.

The December moon is called the Cold Moon according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, though the native peoples of North America, whom lived here for at least 12,000 years before Europeans arrived, had first given it other names according to their heritage.  

------------

The snow that fell last weekend was enough to allow for some great winter activities through mid-winter scenes.  I took a ski over at Page Pond in Meredith on the multi-use trail and around the fields at Barnard Ridge Road.

Crossing Bickford Brook on the multi-use trail.

The Belknap Range from the top of the upper Page Pond field.

Unfortunately we later had a little sleet and mixed precipitation which put a slushy, icy end to the skiing, but when the sun came out afterwards there were some pretty sights to be had.

Sun glistens through the ice coating the trees.

The slush didn't stop the animals from going out - the trails and the lake are covered with frozen otter and fox tracks.  

Animal tracks wind all over the lake.

The animals don't mind walking in the slush.  These frozen tracks will be here a while.

I took my own first steps out on the lake on Thursday and was surprised to find six inches of ice, four inches of solid black ice under an inch or two of that frozen slush.  Yesterday, after a night of 10 degree temperatures thickened it further we were able to get some skating in after all before today's snow ended that.  

But now, skiing and snowshoeing are back on the agenda!

As the days get imperceptibly long over the coming days, the moon will head in other direction.  By the morning of the equinox it was already showing a shaded edge. 

Our daughter has a few words of wisdom posted in her kitchen, courtesy of the moon: 

            Advice from the Moon:

                    Live life to the fullest
                    Be someone to look up to
                    Don't be phased by difficulties
                    Take time to reflect
                    Light up the night!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 19 2021: Winter Finally Arrives

We had our first good snowfall just last night - about 7 inches worth, and instantly the world has been transformed into the North Pole, just in time for Christmas.

Two days before, the woods looked like this:

Mid December and not a flake on the ground.

And though I'm happy we finally have some snow, it sure would have been nice if we were able to skate before the skies dumped and covered up all that beautiful ice.  

Care must be excercised when traveling out on the ice in the next few weeks as the snow will hide the many open spots and will slow the thickening of the ice that exists.  Be careful out there.

Before the snow fell I saw my first sign this season of River Otter out and about.  

Otter scat left by the shore.

These sneaky mammals can swim long distances under the ice, popping up through small openings near shore to catch a breath and relieve themselves.  Otter scat is reliably identifed by the fish scales in it - it's the only scat I know of that shows this.

Intact fish scales are usually present in otter scat.

It also is a loose, moist scat, rather messy, and always near water.  Though otters dine predominately on fish, they  also eat crayfish and frogs and other amphibians.  They are reported to have excellent fishing skills, and that's one theory why they are such playful animals:  they fill their bellies quickly and then have lots of time to play.  I rarely see the animals themselves, but now that there's snow on the ground I'll be on the lookout for otter rolls and belly-slides down the slopes onto the lake.

Finally, I'll share this tree top from a very tired white pine for you to use your imagination as what it looks like:

Nature spurs a lot of creativity!  And a lot of beauty.

December 12, 2021: Tracking Season Begins

Heading out into the woods on the morning after the first snow of the season always raises my curiosity as to what I'll discover has been out walking around the forest without my knowledge.  Add the forgotten beauty of what winter in New Hampshire brings to the landscape, and it's a highly anticipated moment.

I expect to see tracks of the common forest animals:  squirrel, fox, deer, perhaps coyote or turkey.  Less likely to be found are tracks of bobcat, fisher, mink, or weasel - I'm lucky to see these just a few times over the winter.  Sometimes if snow comes early enough in the year I'll find bear tracks, but probably not in mid-December unless it's been unusually warm.  This year, the first snow-covered morning revealed mostly mice!

A long trail of a mouse hopping across the snow.

Their tiny feet left clear tracks in the thin layer of snow.

The tell-tale drag of their tail indicates its a mouse rather than a vole which has a shorter tail.  

Mice, having a prodigious breeding rate, are the primary food source for many winter predators so it's no surprise that their tracks most often take a bee-line from one hiding spot to another but occasionally there is a zig or a zag.

A quick change in direction.

Note also the change in speed of its travel as shown by the increased distance between hops; perhaps something startled it and it dashed to its nearest hole.  

It's amazing how many mice burrows there are throughout the forest, completely unnoticed except when there's thin layer of snow on the ground.  They like to have their entrance holes protected so they can peek out to make sure no one is lurking behind them, ready to pounce upon them as they exit.

Safely guarded on the rear by a tree.

Or under a log.

This one has two small trees standing guard.

Later in the winter when the snow gets deeper they won't ever expose themselves.  Instead they'll excavate a network of tunnels under the snow that connects their dens to their food stores.  I won't see them, but the foxes will locate them with their incredible hearing and know just where to pounce down through the snow to catch them as they travel their hidden network.  

But on this morning, among all those mice and squirrel tracks, where were the fox?  I didn't a single track.  As the light of day grew brighter I saw the fox had also been out, but it was on the lake - which couldn't have had more than an inch of ice on it at that point in time.  With a weight only around a dozen pounds distributed over four paws they don't need much ice to make it worth taking a shortcut across the lake from home to hunting grounds.  We often get to see a fox on the lake at least once a year so that's something else to anticipate now that the lake is frozen.

And frozen it is - almost.  On windy December 7th there was still lots of blue water.

December 7th

But by this morning there was a beautiful sheet of smooth ice on the lake.

December 12th

I don't know if it will last through the warm stretch forecast for next week; ice-in hasn't been declared yet, but there will be some mighty fine skating out there if it gets cold enough to freeze safely before the next snow.

December 5, 2021: Ebb and Flow

Ice is starting to form on the lakes now and every year it takes a different path.  This year Lake Wicwas is imitating an ocean with the ice ebbing and flooding like the tides.  The first ice appeared along the edges of sheltered coves on November 29, accentuated by a dusting of snow over night.  

Nov 29th

The next day was cold, and dawn on December 1st revealed the sheet of ice had crept half way across the cove.  

Dec 1st, 8:15 am

That night a couple of inches of snow fell and filled in the entire cove with a slushy layer that would be a stretch to call "ice" but nonetheless, there was no open water on that foggy morning.  

Dec 2nd, 3:15 pm

But the wind picked the next day and soon the slush was worn away.

Dec 3rd, 9:30 am

As the day progressed the wind eroded the ice most of the way back to the far shore.

Dec 3rd, 2:45 pm

That night it was calm and cold again - at 19 degrees the coldest of the season I think - and the ice advanced again.

Dec 4th, 8:30am

But this day was calm and barely rose above freezing so the ice held its ground throughout the day.

Dec 4th, 10:00 am

And this morning:  Another cold, calm night let the ice creep out the farthest yet, this time highlighted by a veneer of graupel.

Dec 5th

All of the cove was frozen except for the area north and east of the point on the right, and last night Jack Frost was particularly creative in designing the artwork on the clean canvas of lake after the graupel fell.

The area of ice between the shoreline and yesterday's ice.

These are some of the more dramatic ice patterns I've seen on the lake.

Graupel forms inside a cloud when super-cooled water droplets freeze onto an ice crystal churning around in the cloud.

This bit of graupel fell last night.

 As more ice builds on the particle its mass increases until finally gravity pulls it down from the cloud to the ground.

Graupel along with a few uncorrupted snow flakes.

There's no way to predict the weather well enough to guess when ice-in will occur, but the fact that significant portions of the open lake have had skims of ice means that it could be soon; a couple of cold, calm days could do the job.

There was some unexpected goose activity on one of those cold, blustery nights.  For about 30 minutes well after sunset there was a raucous explosion of geese squawking and honking out on the lake.  I can't imagine what they were arguing about at that time of night in dark December - unless some members of the skein (flying group of geese) were revolting at the leader having brought the formation down in that cold, dark, windy spot for the night!

Winter is coming on strong now, though the inch or two of snow we picked up earlier in the week was the first measurable snow at the lake.

It wasn't much, but it at least gave us a hint of winter and dreams of a white Christmas to come.

November 28, 2021: Honey Mushrooms

A few weeks ago (See October 24 post) I noted a huge growth of mushrooms surrounding an oak tree on the trail up to Crockett's Ledge in the Hamlin town forest.  I looked into what kind of mushroom it was and I believe it's a Honey Mushroom.  I've been fascinated with mushrooms and fungi in general since I learned about the essential role they play in life on earth - without fungus living in the soil and feeding plants including the tallest trees in the forest, there would be no plant life as we know it.  Now when I see the fruit of some fungus reaching up above the soil I think about what's going on down below where the vast majority of the organism is working to break down materials into nutrients they feed to the roots of plants.  But looking up information about the honey mushroom I learned there is also a dark side to fungi, and the honey mushroom is one of the evil ones.  

A small growth of honey mushrooms wreaking havoc on this hemlock.

Rather than decomposing residual material in the soil, the honey mushroom attacks the living roots of the host tree - thus they are often found ringing the trunk of tree, commonly oak.

This is the crop of honey mushrooms that got my attention earlier this fall.

As the fungus eats away at the roots it may kill them completely or weaken them to the point that they can no long support the tree and it's uprooted by the wind.  Even worse, like most fungi the honey mushroom sends out threads underground for several meters which allow it to spread to other trees.  This is one mushroom worth watching for; it can be controlled by an arborist using a fungicide.

Another danger to watch for - particularly this time of year while they are hungrily on the prowl to fatten up their winter stores - are bears.  The current issue of NH Fish and Game Wildlife Journal has a good article about the danger of feeding animals both intentionally and unintentionally and how it leads to their demise.  The focus is on deer and explains how feeding them interrupts their digestive system because it takes ungulates two weeks for their multiple-stomach system to adapt to new food.  This resulted in the death of 12 deer in South Hampton when they ate corn and other grains that their system wasn't prepared for.  

Another well known animal impacted by human food is the black bear.  Being omnivores, bears can digest most human food (but not chocolate!) so the issue isn't the food itself but rather the interaction with humans.  And it's not safe to put those bird feeders out yet - Harry Clymer sent me these photos of three black bears foraging through his yard for apples:

A black bear harvesting apples.  Photos by Harry Clymer.

Great pictures Harry - thanks for sharing!

The bears will be out until we get a good cold stretch, which at the moment is nowhere in sight.  The article discusses both of these animals' plight from human interaction; if Fish and Game posts the article on their website I'll share it.  

On the water, we haven't seen many of the interesting migrating ducks yet but a lot of mallards have been stopping by the lake.  On Thanksgiving we had a flock of about a dozen mallards swimming around and dredging up acorns from the bottom of the lake where overhanging oak trees dropped their seeds in preparation for the ducks' Thanksgiving Day feast.

Part of the fleet on Thanksgiving Day.

Three drakes court a single hen.

Dabbling for acorns along the shoreline.

We also had a couple of visits by what appears to be a juvenile loon.

Could this be one of our loon chicks?

I wish there were a way to tell whether this is one of our chicks or a visitor from another lake.

One last nature note:  On Thursday we watched a pretty bobcat prowling all the way down along the far side of the road - I'm sure it was in search of a turkey dinner.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day - without having to scour the forest or dive in the lake for your meal!